Adalaide Byrd will not be doing marquee fights for a while after her controversial scorecard of the Gennady Golovkin-Canelo Alvarez fight turned the match into a draw.
After defending Byrd as a judge Sunday, Nevada State Athletic Commission director Bob Bennett said Monday Byrd will be asked to take ‘a small break’ from calling major fights.
Byrd scored the fight 118-110 in favor of Alvarez when the other two judges scored the fight 115-113 in favor of Golovkin and 114-114 as a draw. In fact, of the five rounds that the other two judges both scored in favor of Golovkin Byrd had in favor of Alvarez.
“I think she (Adalaide Byrd) turned in her scorecard before the fight started,” Golovkin’s trainer, Abel Sanchez said following the fight, via the Telegraph. “I had suspicions when they gave us the list of judges. I think she needs to go back to school and learn how to judge a fight. But something has to be done about the judging.”
Only one other judge has been asked to take a similar break from major fights. That judge was CJ Ross, who scored the Canelo Alvarez-Floyd Mayweather Jr. fight in favor of Alvarez, and rewarded Timothy Bradley the win over Manny Pacquiao in their first matchup. Ross retired soon after he was asked to step away.
There is no indication that this scorecard will force Byrd into retirement, but Bennett was none too pleased with her despite defending her after the cards were revealed.
“Like in any profession, you have a bad night,” he said. “Unfortunately, she didn’t do well. I can tell you she conducts training for us, takes judges under her wing, but her score was too wide.”
